I’m between Syracuse University and UC San Diego. I plan on going to law school after I finish college and I was wondering if where you got your undergrad really matters. I’m almost 100% sure they’re both top tier universities, however, UCSD is better ranked; both in my career(psychology #13) and as a university(National ranking #39 vs 61). I think I can do better at SU than at UCSD though(grades wise) and I got financial aid at SU and didn’t get any at UCSD. I’m wondering… does undergrad really matter that much? Especially if they’re both top 100 universities?
Please help asap!!!
It matters; at UCSD you would get a better education and have more prestige when applying to law school, but if you honestly believe you would do much better at SU then by all means, go there!
@theofrelord Do they also matter if I end up transferring let’s say junior year? Not to another UC institution though
I disagree with @theofrelord that UCSD would give you a better education. Both it and Syracuse are excellent schools, an neither holds an advantage over the other in terms of law school admissions.
Go where you feel you fit best.
Prestige does not matter for law school, most important are GPA and LSAT, undergrad prestige will not be considered. Law school is expensive, so inexpensive is also good. If you prefer it and it’s more affordable, Syracuse definitely makes.
@usualhopeful That could not be more wrong.
OP, this is true to an extent, but if you got a 3.5-3.6 at Harvard it will beat out getting a 3.9 at Syracuse. Between UCSD and Syracuse, there may not be much of a difference. To an extent, it is true, but they do factor it into account a bit. Otherwise future law school applicants would never go to prestigious undergraduate universities when in reality they could just go to worse ones and do better. That would not make any sense. I say this as someone who also plans on going to law school after college.
I would recommend UCSD especially if you are in-state. I think it will probably offer a better experience, and it should be cheaper than Syracuse? If not, it’s up to you, but remember you only have one college.
I find your Harvard/Syracuse GPA example hard to believe, considering a 3.5 at Harvard is below Harvard’s median GPA of 3.67. Besides that, there’s the LSAT to even out grade inflation the effects of admissions selectivity.
Perhaps, it may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but to say that it will flat-out not be considered would be wrong. I still believe a 3.6 or a 3.7 at a prestigious university gets you farther than a 4.0 at a non-prestigious one provided comparable or even better LSAT scores.
OP, law schools do not parse ratings. There are students at Harvard Law from a range of colleges and universities. Are there more there from top-tier schools? of course: those students already had the drive / ambition / maturity / etc to get into top tier undergrads, you would expect them to do well in grad school applications.
Once you get out of the top tier, the relative differences between rankings diminish substantially. Both UCSD & Syracuse are fine, respectable schools. If money is at all a concern, go to whichever is less expensive for you- as @usahopeful and @katliamom said: go where you can afford it. There is no meaningful difference in prestige between these two schools for law school.
@jarrett211 And you would be wrong if you assumed this. A person with a 3.6 GPA from Harvard and 173 is not going to have as good of a cycle as someone from Podunk State with a 173 and a 4.0, all other things being equal. There’s tons of data that bear this out.
OP, the name on your degree makes absolutely no difference. The only thing that matters, as a previous poster correctly pointed out, is your overall LSAC GPA and LSAT score.